Anger as Democrats play religious card in election

A POLITICAL TV advert that accuses a Catholic candidate of calling Protestants "scandalous, depraved, selfish and heretical" has provoked fury in the US state of Louisiana.

The man at the centre of the storm is Bobby Jindal, a Catholic and the Republican candidate in the race to be state governor.

Democrats say the 30-second ad - running in heavily Protestant areas - simply explains Mr Jindal's beliefs with his own words. But Mr Jindal says his views have been distorted, and a letter has been sent to nine TV stations saying the advert is defamatory and asking them to stop showing it. Fellow Republicans say it is a smear campaign.

The advert features an actress saying Mr Jindal does not respect other people's religions and directs viewers to a website with links to several articles Mr Jindal wrote on Catholicism.

In one, Mr Jindal talks of the Catholic religion as the true Christian faith and refers to a "scandalous series of divisions and new denominations" of religions since the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

But he also wrote that the Catholic Church must incorporate the "spirit-led movements" of other Christian faiths.